Introduction

Enterprise resource planning has been the forefront in providing efficiency and productivity solution to the companies all over the world. In the global and competitive environment, it is essential for companies to have some sort of ERP in place. Enterprise resource planning ensures that deployment of resources take place, and company can monitor them on a real-time basis.

Top 5 ERP Solutions Providers

The top 5 ERP Solution providers not in a particular order are Epicor, Infor, Microsoft, Oracle and SAP.

1. Epicor: This company has been in the enterprise solution market for a very long time. The company was founded in 1972 and since then it has introduced several reputable products. The company has over 20,000 customers all over the world at present about 140 countries. In last decade or so and after some critical acquisition, company has achieved high growth. Company has a good value added reseller channel and provides strong industry solutions. One key success factor to the company is its pool of ERP consultants. Products offered by the company are low to moderately price.

2. Infor: This company is 3rd largest player on the ERP market. The company was founded in 2002. The company has introduced enterprise software for financial systems, supply-chain management and customer relationship management. The company has more than 70,000 customers all over the world. The company is known to provide vertical ERP solutions and boast key strength in manufacturing solutions. It provides ERP solutions for complex and non-continuous manufacturing. The products sold by the company are low to moderately price.

3. Microsoft: This company has a very strong presence in the Small Medium Business segment and in the mid-market. Microsoft has over 83,000 world- wide customers. Microsoft has a very strong channel network to handle ERP products. Microsoft ERP products are only sold through Value Added Re-seller only. This raises question over its strategy around ERP products. The products sold are low to moderately price.

4. Oracle: This company is 2nd largest player on the ERP market and the current number 1 in the CRM market. The company has over 30 years of proven record on the ERP market. The products offered by the company have a very flexible module, therefore, open to much customization. The products offered by the company are in the high-price band.

5. SAP: This company is the largest player in the ERP market. Their name has been synonymous with ERP products. The company is the pioneer in the ERP market. The products offered by the company are in the high-price band.

Small Business Market Leaders

The small business market is dominated by the Microsoft ERP products. Since 2000, the company has acquired a string of companies, which has added to value to its ERP portfolio.

Middle Market Leaders

Epicor and Infor both are strong players in the middle market. Epicor is very robust in financial services, hospitality, retail, etc. sectors.

Global Companies and Large Enterprise

SAP is the world leader in this market because it provides superb accounting solution software, which tightly integrated all major departments throughout the company. Oracle through acquisition of PeoplSoft has emerged a strong force in ERP market.